


Be My Guest

by BlackBirdAolen



Category: Tales of Phantasia
Genre: Conversation, F/M, Tea, Waiting, castle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-15
Updated: 2014-12-15
Packaged: 2018-03-01 14:37:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2776730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackBirdAolen/pseuds/BlackBirdAolen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mint awakens in Dhaos's castle - but it seems like she has absolutely nothing to fear. The Demon King is rather hospitable towards her.</p><p> </p><p>  <a href="http://ask.fm/BlackBirdAolen">Got a fanfic idea for me?</a><br/><a href="http://cheroshseiphar.deviantart.com/">My deviantART - full of original fiction.</a><br/><a href="http://blackbirdaolen.tumblr.com/">Snippets and ramblings on my tumblr.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Be My Guest

Mint woke to the scent of roses filling the air. She still felt as though she had been smashed and then put back together. The attack of the stone golem had come out of nowhere, and the last thing she remembered was the orange glowing of the golem's eyes, presumably before she had been hit. It would explain the pain she was in.

She had to focus really hard this time to call upon her healing magic. It alleviated most of the pain, and it made Mint sigh in relief. Finally, she didn't feel as though she was being squeezed beneath a boulder. For a while, she gasped a little, but as soon as her heartbeat calmed, she could focus on her surroundings for the first time.

She had come to in a rather comfortable bed. The mattress was soft and a true dream compared to some of the hard undergrounds she had rested on during her journey. Mint even noticed that her clothes seemed to have been cleaned. The scent of roses came from a bouquet of at least three dozen of them, carefully arranged to be pleasing to the eye as well.

But Mint couldn't enjoy the lavish interior of the room, the luxury offered to her. Her companions were absent, and she couldn't hear a thing hinting at another living being present in what to her seemed to be a manor at first, and a castle only at second glance.

"Cress!" Mint tried to open the larger of the two doors leading to the room, but to no avail. A sense of dread filled her, and she hurried over to the other door, trying the handle and finding it open. "Cress! Cress, where are you? Answer me please!"

Behind the opened door was a short corridor filled with candles and portraits, but the paintings were uninteresting to Mint. The horror of not finding any of her companions close to her was more than she could bear. She had to find them, and be sure that they were alright, before she would be able to focus on anything else.

"Cress!" She flung open the next door, freezing immediately. Mint was still panting, but her heart was hammering for an entirely different reason now. Now, being in a castle made much more sense. The owner of it was none other than… "Dhaos."

It was little more than a fearful whisper. Mint still didn't know what the blond man before her wanted, or why he seemed rather fond of her. Even after he had helped her heal Yggdrasil, the tree of all mana in the world, she was unsure what to think of the imposing male. Still, she stepped forward, the doors closing behind her at a wave of Dhaos's hand.

"I have been waiting for you to wake up." Dhaos's expression was blank as ever, but there was a hint of worry in his voice nonetheless. "I feared that the golem had hit you too hard."

So she had been correct. Mint couldn't quite decide what to think of Dhaos's words. Was he truly worried, or was that just a front? She had no idea if she could trust him. However, since he had cared for her, she guessed that for the time being, Dhaos could be trusted. Mint hesitantly walked over to the chair Dhaos provided her with, never letting go of her staff. Where could the others be…?

"I… I have a question." Mint looked right into Dhaos's eyes, and somewhere beneath the emotionless mask, she could sense a turmoil of emotions. Eyes could give away so much, often more than the observed would dream of. "Please, do you know where my friends are? I'm worried for them."

"They are in Midgard, and will doubtlessly be cared for." Dhaos looked mildly dissatisfied. "Why are you so worried for them? They are quite capable to care for themselves. Until they inevitably will come here, please… be my guest."

Mint nodded, then lowered her head to hide her worries and fear. She had already presumed that Dhaos wouldn't be happy about her worrying for the rest of her party. But Mint couldn't help it. She knew how hot-headed Cress could he, how chaotic they all could be when left on their own, and what trouble they could cause with their endless bantering among one another. It was all culminating into a heavy feeling of anxiety, making her wish that somehow, this all would turn out to be a dream.

"Please, tell me, little lady…" Mint hesitantly looked up at Dhaos, mildly surprised he served her a cup of tea. He did seem rather amiable today. "Why are you traveling with such troublesome people? They don't seem to be the most pleasant of people."

Mint blushed a little about his politeness, and about the way he was smiling at her. Just the faintest of smiles, but it was there without a doubt. But she also felt that she had to defend her friends. "I am connected to them by a wonderful bond of friendship. And I don't want to leave them behind. It would feel wrong."

"I see." Dhaos sipped on his tea, watching her with a thoughtful expression. "Would they come for you even now? Wouldn't they suspect that you might have allied with me?"

Mint shook her head, with a calm certainty. "They wouldn't. I trust them as they trust me. That is the foundation for our closeness to one another."

Dhaos slowly nodded, looking thoughtful and a little lost for a moment. Then, he smiled, lifting his own cup of tea. "Well, I'm curious to find out. And in the meantime, I hope that I'll make myself clear on what my goals are. I think that I can confide to the maiden who resurrected the tree of life."

 


End file.
